first attempt was made with horses, which were soon knocked up from
the strong nature of the ground and the want of water; the others
we made with camels, by the help of which the country was well
examined to a distance of nearly ninety miles. Water was found at
two places at distances of about seventy and seventy-three miles
north of the creek, but it was fast drying up, and would not last
beyond Christmas. No blacks were seen, but a column of smoke was
observed to the north-north-east, at a distance of about fifteen
miles, as ascertained by some bearings, from the point at which we
turned back. The chief portion of the land traversed consists of
land-dunes and flats of the same nature, the latter clothed with
porcupine grass, the former with salt bushes, grasses, and a
variety of shrubs, sometimes intermixed with mesembryanthemums and
porcupine grass. The sandy ground is bounded on either side by
sandstone ranges, from which numerous small creeks flow east and
west until they are lost in small flats and clay pans amongst the
sand hills. Their course is marked by an acacia, which is somewhat
analogous in its general characteristics to the common wattle; a
few are favoured with some box trees, but we only found water in
one. The whole country has a most deplorably arid appearance; birds
are very scarce, native dogs numerous. The paths of the blacks on
the strong ground look as if they had been used many years.
Anthills and beds are to be found everywhere in great numbers and
of considerable size; the paths to and from them are better marked
and more worn than any I have ever seen before; but nearly all of
them are deserted, and those that are inhabited contain a small and
weakly population that seems to be fast dying away. Neither about
the flats nor the ranges did we see any signs of the heavy floods
that have left such distinct marks in other parts, and the
appearance of the whole country gave me the idea of a place that